Code 43 and trannie probs after major work!

91firebird7777

04-21-2004, 04:05 PM

I have a 91 cutlass supreme with a 3.1 and 3 speed automatic. Major work was recently done along the lines of removing the oil pan to press out a crank position sensor that was stuck in the block and no longer sensing.

Before this was done, the car worked fine, it had enough power and the transmission was one of the smoothest shifting i have ever driven.

I got the car back, and the first thing I noticed was that all of the shiftpoints had been raised by around 5 to 7 miles an hour. Then when I got on the highway, the car would not accelerate normally. I eventualy pushed the pedal to the floor and a loud crunch was the result along with a check engine light. I pulled off, disconnected the battery to try to clear the code, no luck. I got back on the highway and drove it easy. I noticed that the car lacked a lot of the power it had before the work was done. When I got back, I scanned the computer. It was giving a code 43, I'm almost positive the knock sensor is fine, and the ignition module and crank sensor are new, although those are code 42 related components. This weekend, I'm going to adjust the TV cable just to see if that fixes anything but nothing was done to it while at the shop. my questions are to anyone who knows:

Could the problem I am having with the tranny have any relation to the code 43 I am getting since it did happen right when I tried to get on the highway? What else should I look for and what could have been done to the car to make this happen? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I can't put much more money into this car.

Thanks for the help

Slade901

05-06-2004, 09:16 AM

Are you leaking oil or coolant a little bit (around the hoses), etc.

On my 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 3.1L V6, the coolant reservoir is in the middle (top) of the radiator and coolant reservoir cap is not tight and so it leaks the coolant around the cap intead of going to the overflow line from the coolant reservoir itself. The coolant leaks and splatter down below where the Ignition Module/Coil, Crankshaft Position Sensor wire, spark plug wires. It gave me a code 42. I have since fix the leak around the coolant reservoir cap and I don't have any code 42 anymore and the engine does not sputter or die anymore when driving.

Code 43 on the other hand is the knock sensor, if you think the knock sensor is fine, I would trace the knock sensor wire and make sure it is not rubbing on the engine block.

What I have done is purchased a Split Loom Tubing (1/4" diameter x 100-ft) and insulated the crankshaft position sensor wire and knock sensor wire.

91firebird7777

05-06-2004, 11:20 PM

I'm pretty sure that the knock sensor is fine, I haven't traced the wireing yet, but the timeing has since fixed itself. I'm almost sure that the computer is on the fritz as i occasionally have surges in throttle that feel like the timeing is changing abnormally as I press down on the gas. The car has nearly 200000 miles, so that is a lot of run time. Since the problem has proven to be intermittent, and hasn't happened seriously in about 2 weeks(since i adjusted the TV cable to have the earliest shift points possible) i think the computer is the only thing that can be blamed. There is something funny in the transmission, which is the cause of the cable being pulled in as much as possible, but the car always had something like that. It had a rebuilt trannie when I bought it and they probably didn't adjust the length of the TV cable correctly